Tips to travel and live a life that makes you happy

I’m going to live in a VAN! Fulltime. Abroad. #Vanlife

Yes! You read that right. I am CHOOSING to downsize my life and live a minimal lifestyle in a van. Before you say wtf?! The answers to all your preliminary questions for me might be answered below 🙂 (what, when, why, who, where, how):

»WHAT« IM DOING:

In a nutshell: I am quitting my jobs, putting everything I own in storage bins, buying a one way ticket to Europe (I’m from Florida), renovating the interior of a van there, and then living IN a van full-time, while road tripping/traveling around unplanned destinations for an undetermined amount of time. Get all that? I’m so excited!

»WHEN« IM GOING:

I fly to England last week of May. Then there will never really be a “set schedule”, but tenatively renovating the van during the month of June and hitting the road thereafter. The length of time doing this is undetermined at this point. Moving around when we feel like it. You cannot put a time limit or time frame or schedule on “van life”.. just go with the flow. So that’s all I got for the “when” section.

»WHY« IM DOING IT:

Because it is something I’ve always wanted to do. I am choosing to. Why is not something I can really put into words. It is something my soul has craved for such a long time. We all know I like traveling, but the routine of home bores me and the idea of having the freedom to do different things every day excites me. The ability to move around and experience new places will make me excited for each and every day of life. I’ve never needed a single tangible item or a lot of money to be happy.. nature and travel have always been my sources of happy.. and this will be a way to have both, all the time. I think it will be an amazing way to better appreciate life and appreciate the small things that most people take for granted on a daily basis. And it will allow me to be free to be me.

I am doing it because I am sick of talking about doing it, wishing I was doing it, and being jealous of others that are doing it. I’m sick of following other “van lifers” on social media living vicariously through them wishing it was me. I am sick of talking about my dreams, and I am finally acting on my dreams (as you should too). I am always such a motivator to do what makes you happy, so I’m going to practice what I preach. And finally, I’m doing it because the “timing” of when to make big choices never seems like the right time, so why not just do it NOW. Basically, I don’t want to take my dreams to my grave with me. So that’s my why.

{»Side note«} : I understand not everyone will understand this crazy choice of mine. You either understand it or you don’t. You’ll either think it’s awesome or you’ll think it’s the stupidest thing you’ve ever heard.. depending on the type of person you are. Afterall, this is a huge frigging lifestyle change. For the first time in my 30 years of life, I won’t have a permanent grounded place to go home to anymore, just a tiny “home” on wheels. No TV, no plumbing, limited water supply, etc (I’ll talk specifics at a later time). But point is, I don’t know many people that would jump for joy at the idea of that… BUT I PERSONALLY AM SOO F*CKING EXCITED ABOUT IT! Probably the most excited about any decision I’ve ever made in my entire life if I’m being honest! And that’s all that matters 🙂

»WHO« IM DOING IT WITH:

Although I am mentally doing this 100% for myself and my happiness (that should always come first in life), none of this would be possible without someone that came into my life back around the new year. (Thanks Tinder! but for real… haha)Someone that has the same wanderlust soul that I have. Someone with the same dreams, same desires, and same mentality. Someone who never once questioned me when I said I wanted to live in a van. He didn’t raise an eyebrow (like most do), he didn’t ask why, and he didn’t doubt me. In fact, he said “I’ve always wanted to live in a van too!” He is essentially the final piece of what I needed in my life to actually take this giant leap. And he couldn’t have entered my life at a more perfect time. So I will not be doing this alone. I will be with my loving, supportive, handy, adventurous, amazing man, Dave. (I can write more about this part of my life in another post). But a very massive, huge, big THANK YOU to him ♥

1 Yank. 1 Brit. 1 Van. Future #vanlife couple ♥

»WHERE« WE’LL BE:

We will be working on the van in Southwest England, near Cornwall, Dave’s hometown. (Yes he’s English, *swoon*). But we’re getting it over there because it’s wayy cheaper to buy a van in Europe than the US! When we feel it is ready enough to start our adventure, we will go wherever the road takes us.. traveling all around Europefor the first few months. I hope to camp in the mountains and on beaches and wherever we find “wild” spots with pretty landscape. If you want to keep up with where we are, make sure to follow me on Instagram (@KellyNicoleTravel), Snapchat (@heeyimkelly), and this blog site KellyNicoleTravel.com. (And Dave’s insta is SnowyDiscovering). Once I’m over there I will be posting daily on my Instagram… so you can keep up with how the build is going, where we are that day, how living in a van is going, and what weird/awesome things we’re doing. so go follow me. Now 🙂

»HOW« WE’RE DOING IT:

This could be 574839 different blog posts. With something like this, “how” could be referring to how were preparing beforehand with packing, how to decide what to bring and what to leave, how were converting/building the van, how were going to eat, how were going to shower, how were going to poop, how we’ll pay for things, how we’ll adapt to a minimal lifestyle, how we’re genuinely feeling, how we’ll find places to park, how we’ll decide where to go, how to do everything haha … I know some of the answers to those questions now, but I will write them all in different posts as time goes on as I experience it firsthand. And I don’t know the answers to some of those questions as well. We will learn and adapt as we go.. and there will definitely be a lot to learn and adapt to. But I could NOT be more excited about that aspect! Many things to come! 🙂

Will it be challenging? Helllllllll yes. Do I have some fears? Of course. But I am kind of prepared to be unprepared… and that will be half the fun of this lifestyle. The unknown. The spontaneity. The challenges. The going with the flow. The learning how to live with minimal assets and very minimal spending. The “we’ll deal with whatever confronts us as it confronts us” type of mentality. I think (well, I hope) that it will allow me to appreciate the smaller things in life that most take for granted all while doing big things at the same time. Having less but living and seeing more. I can’t wait to live it, take on the challenges thrown at me, and write about it.

Hope this post answers some of the questions you may have for me for now. I will be posting lots of stories and pictures on Instagram once we get to the van and get started next month… So Be sure to follow along with our adVANture, on my social media (@KellyNicoleTravel). & Remember to live the life YOU love and dream of!!!!